Test Setup:
Today's test system consists of the hardware listed below, and as with all good testing a clean install is used and the latest Windows Updates are applied. The applications and games used in today's tests are the latest of what was available at the time of this analysis - links to demos and free trials are provided when applicable.

MSI's HD 6970 Lightning features a default core clock of 940 MHz (880 MHz reference) and memory running at 2750 MHz (5500 MHz effective). Overclocking allowed us to increase the core to 1040 MHz and memory to 3150 MHz (6300 MHz effective) making use of core voltage adjustments present in MSI's own Afterburner software. Default specifications as displayed by GPU-Z are on the left, while overclock settings and details are on the right.

Game Benchmarks:
We have compiled a list of popular and graphically challenging games which include titles utilising Microsoft's DirectX 9, 10 and 11 API's for testing today; tested in 1920x1200 and 1680x1050 resolutions that are most commonly used by gamers based on Steam's hardware survey. MSI's HD 6970 Lightning stock and overclocked results are highlighted in orange.